More details on the new Alternative Trading System

More details on the new Alternative Trading System

Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), Romania’s main capital market operator, aims to have at least five companies listed on its new platform for small and medium enterprises by the end of this year, according to Ludwik Sobolewski, BVB’s CEO.
“Our goal is to re-launch this market by a simultaneous debut of several companies. Desirably, most of them will have offers conducted completely before this moment,” Sobolewski said on the press meeting.
His goal is to create a market where smaller companies in Romania and even startups can find financing, such as the NewConnect which he created in Warsaw, while he managed the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The NewConnect market was launched in 2007 and currently has more than 430 companies listed with a total market capitalization of EUR 2.3billion.
The new market for smaller companies, called AeRO, will replace the current alternative trading system (ATS) and will come with new rules which should make it easier to access and more efficient.
The AeRO market will be regulated by the BVB, not by Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF). This should reduce the paperwork and the time needed for a company to prepare its listing. Companies which plan to be listed on AeRO will no longer need a prospectus approved by the ASF. The main requirements for listing would be free-float (shares owned by minority shareholders) of at least 10% of their share capital, or at least 30 shareholders, and an anticipated market capitalization of at least EUR 250k.
Although this market won’t be very liquid, it should be interesting for investors, not only local but foreign as well. These small companies that will be listed on AeRO will be able to raise more money and be listed on the BVB, as they develop their business.
Intermediaries will have a key role on the new market segment. They will be called Authorized Advisors and all companies that want to be listed on AeRO must cooperate with one of them. The advisor will prepare the company’s documentation for listing and will support it through the first year after listing by helping it with financial reporting and communication to investors.
The BVB expects this market to be launched in about two months, after the documentation and the rules of the market will be approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Source: romania-insider.comTags: ats, BVB, ludwik sobolewski